things are changing
by Anrheithwyr
Summary: This notebook is the property of Luna Lovegood, and belongs solely to her. If you locate this notebook, belonging to Luna Lovegood, please return it to her as soon as possibly possible, because it is very special, and I use it to record my adventures looking for the Snorkack, which are most certainly out there, even though everyone else says I am wrong or delusional.


_**Written for the 'Journey through Hogwarts Challenge' by Cheeky Slytherin Lass, using **_a. Amanuensis Quills- You go into the quill shop. Maybe it's not the most exciting destination, but you know you'll have to do a lot of writing at Hogwarts. Write a journal fic including the prompts important, lake, and unknown.

_**Written for the 'If You Dare Challenge' by Slytherin Cat, using prompt # 837, feeling good. **_

_**Written for the 'Duct Tape Competition' by lezonne, using **_Paint Splatters: Write about someone random/unpredictable; write about Luna Lovegood

_**Written for the 'Ten times Ten Challenge' by she who is made of stars, using Creature: Thestral. **_

_゜・。。・゜__゜・。。・゜__゜・。。・゜__゜・。。・_

This notebook is the property of Luna Lovegood, and belongs solely to her. If you locate this notebook, belonging to Luna Lovegood, please return it to her as soon as possibly possible, because it is very special, and I use it to record my adventures looking for the Snorkack, which are most certainly out there, even though everyone else says I am wrong or delusional. Thank you for your understand of the importance of returning this notebook to its rightful owner.

_April 20, 2007_

_Things are changing-the world around me seems to be shifting every day. I'm learning, exploring…there are things I did not feel like finding out, things that have come forth anyway, because I have looked into the abyss, and I can see nothing but darkness from where I stand. _

_There is a whole wide, unknown world out there that I have never been allowed to explore before, and now that I have been allowed into the Expedition League, I finally have my chance to see everything around me, the things I have never experienced before, the unknown world outside of my front doorstep. _

_The others say I'm being dramatic, that I'm only seeing what I want to see-and by that, they mean I'm seeing only nonsense and shadows and things that are _there but not really_, even though I have tried to tell them the truth._

_There are things out there which we cannot explain, things so far beyond us that we will never be able to comprehend them. _

_I am the only female on my team, and the youngest, on top of that. There are eleven of us now, I think, though we started out with twenty. (And four girls, including me! Three very strange girls, who thought me odd and mad and don't see the world the way I do!) _

_The others on the team…they don't seem to look at our work with the same fascination._

_Things are…slow going, when it comes to making friends. They take pictures of the world around us, but see only trees and flowers of many colours. _

_They see animals and rivers and footsteps-but that is all they see. I can see the pride with which the flowers hold themselves, standing so tall. I can see the curiosity in the animal's faced, the songs that the river sings for us each day._

_Even the sun seems to speak to me as we travel, encouraging me to not give up, to walk just a few feet more, because though the sun is a very hot creature, she is also very kind, and wishes me no harm. _

_Some of my teammates have fainted and fallen in the heat, and I fear they do not speak to the sun in the same way that I do, because they do not understand her beauty or her magnificent powers. _

_I wish I could take out my eyes and give it to others so that they can see the way I do; I wish I could lend them my heart and my brains and my voice, so that they understood what I meant and what I felt and what I said when _

_I speak of the world around me. No one seems to feel the same way that I do, and it is just me and my lonely words on the edge of a world that I struggle to grasp._

_゜・。。・゜__゜・。。・゜__゜・。。・゜__゜・。。・_

_April 24, 2007_

_We chanced upon a unicorn today, not more than four years old, as it is still silver in colour, but has yet to grow its own horn._

_The men in my group had sent me forward to greet it, as the unicorn only snorted warily when one of the others tried to go near it. _

_This seemed to frustrate Alec, who feels that he deserves to be in charge of everything, and also has informed me plenty of times that he finds me to be silly and childish._

_I don't mind Alec, because the wrackspurts do make such a terrible racket in his head that I'm surprised he is able to speak at all, let alone make any sense out of his words._

_Koenning, who is the youngest male on our team, only twenty-seven, says I oughtn't to bother with Alec, who is very sore about girls being allowed to join the Expedition League, as he (he being Alec, I think) believes that only males are smart enough or strong enough to be in the League. _

_Anyway, the unicorn was very sweet and very friendly to me, though he did tremble so terribly even under my hand-I believe it might have something to do with the ten men gathered around it, taking pictures and making drawings and writing up descriptions. _

_Alec was boasting to our newest member-an ash-blond man of almost thirty, Scamander by name-about how unicorns aren't really all that special, and that he had seen almost a dozen and a half before, but I don't think Scamander much cared about how many unicorns Alec has seen, as this is his first, and it is very beautiful._

_After a while, I fear the poor unicorn got too skittish, or possibly just bored of us humans drawing him all day, and he snorted softly at me, trotting away into the woods, silver hair tickling my nose as he went. _

_It was a very happy good-bye, and as the unicorn disappeared from sight, I waved pleasantly at him, feeling like a pretty girl in a movie, like the ones I have seen with Harry before. _

"_That was very good, Luna," Koenning said to me pleasantly, patting my shoulder with his large hand. Though he is only a year older than me, Koenning is a very large man. I suspect there may be giant in him, but I have yet to ask. "You are almost like a professional with the unicorn."_

"_Thank you, Koenning," I replied, and he grinned at me, a happy smile that made me feeling good inside. The others also thanked me for being a good sport with the unicorn, all except Alec, who only complained that he was hungry, and that I ought to begin cooking dinner soon, before he began to starve to death._

_I don't think Mr. Scamander thought much of that comment, as he wrinkled up his nose distastefully, but I didn't mind. After all, I _am _the best one among us at making salad and grilling chicken. The poor boys, they just can't seem to get a hang of it. _

_゜・。。・゜__゜・。。・゜__゜・。。・゜__゜・。。・_

_May 1, 2007_

_The lake near our camp is very pretty, especially during spring, as the flowers bloom and apples begin to grow heavier on their branches. They are still very poor for eating, small and poor tasting, but that does not stop the others from daring each other to eat them anyway. _

_I had headed for the lake early this morning, seeking some temporary solitude, perhaps to draw or write or come up with a little song to keep me busy. The boys did not wake as I crept from my sleeping mat, and I walked, barefoot, down the little dirt path that led to the lake._

_And what a surprise I found there! Three thestrals-a mother and its two babies-were drinking from the lake, probably having rested nearby through the night. _

_I watched them quietly from behind a tree, wishing I had thought to bring some meat with me, but all the uncooked meat we have was back at the tent, too far away for me to get. _

_They were very beautiful, dark skeletal wings folding around their bodies as they sipped, the mother protecting her young. I watched as one of the little thestrals stuck its head into the water, splashing around playfully, and I smiled. _

"_Having a nice time?" asked someone behind me, and I turned around, surprised to see Scamander leaning against a tree, also watching the thestrals with a look of amazement. "Aren't they fantastic? I've always loved thestrals."_

"_You can see them?" I asked, a tad shocked. Thestrals can only be seen when you've watched someone else die, and I can see them after having witnessed the passing of my mother-who could have died that Scamander could also see them?_

"_My aunt Marta, when I was sixteen. She drowned, poor Aunt Marta-she couldn't ever really swim, and she just went out too far one day…I didn't even realise until it was too late, and then…" he trailed off, and we both stood there, the thestrals having finished their drink and wandering farther into the darker parts of the forest._

"_My mother died when I was nine," I said quietly, fingers splayed out on the tree that I was resting my back on. "She liked to experiment, and she usually didn't take precautions when she was mixing things together or casting spells…for the longest time, I didn't really connect the funeral with my mother being dead….I thought the wrackspurts had gotten her, or a Crumple-horned Snorkack. By the time I was twelve, though, I understood the truth." _

"_Im so sorry, Luna," Scamander said, but I only smiled in an almost happy sort of way, peeling myself away from the tree._

"_It's okay, Rolf," I told him, having finally recalled his name. I reached out, taking his warm hand in mine, feeling the first rays of the beautiful sun on my face. "It was a long time ago, and it doesn't even hurt so much anymore. Come on, let's go back to the tents before the others get up and worry about us."_

"_Yeah," Rolf said, following me up the path, towards where we had spent the past few weeks; we didn't speak much, wrapped up in our own thoughts and memories, but it was nice, walking with Rolf, who understood me and what I was feeling and thinking. _

_Things are changing. _


End file.
